UKC

Looking for a bit of local beta here..
I know Avon dries pretty quickly after summer rain, but if it rains at 6-7am (as is currently forecast for this Sunday), would it dry out enough in a few hours on a cold winters day to make it worth a long drive and getting anything done? I'm talking about the easy multi-pitch classics particularly.
Also are there abseil points above main wall or sea walls where you could tie 2 ropes together (60m?) and ab the whole way down to the ground to save time with the limited daylight hours available?
Many thanks.

In reply to purple sue:

You can certainly abseil down sea walls but I wouldn't recommend it, trees are a bit of a way back or you'll be going off the railings. Main wall lots of ab points.

Personally with the forecast I wouldn't make the drive. You'll almost certainly find something dry at some point in the day but it's unlikely to be an easy classic imo

In reply to purple sue:

Also be aware that police will have parts of the gorge closed off for evidence gathering etc following the poor young mum and baby who appears to have jumped

In reply to purple sue:

I don't think you can abb the central section of main wall in a single go. It's close to 90 meters so would have to stop on a ledge somewhere (lunch time ledge) . The left hand side though are mostly single pitch with abb points. The fastest drying area though is suspension bridge buttress which has lots of quality routes. It really depends how much it rains but I would suspect it'll be possible to get some routes done tomorrow. But I wouldn't say it's worth a long drive.

In reply to kind people:

Many thanks everyone for the very useful beta.
I'll check first thing to see if the forecasted deluge arrives early morning and make a decision then.
Yes, main wall probably not a good idea in light of recent sad news..

In reply to Kemics:

As a side note, suspension bridge buttress I found, although dried quickly was very cold rock wise on the crisp days in winter with a little frost in the morning. Don't know what its like in Bristol, but its a bit brassy here again tonight. As your aware though Sue, I'm no local.
The walk down from the sea wall area is really quite quick, and the big ledge at 2/3rds height can be abseiled from.
I hope you get out Sue, did you get out today - wintours?? I was so close to making the journey. Ended up indoors instead.
Good job really, as I climbed like a weakling.

In reply to purple sue:

I think the tragedy was actually around Suspension bridge buttress or the observatory adjacent to it, which are on the other side of bridge valley road and a fairly long way from main wall.

NB the excellent single pitch routes at the left of main wall are quite a faff to scramble up to. OK if your going to do several there and ab down each time I guess.